Successful Dealer Award Top 3 finalists named

Freightliner of St. Cloud, Truck Centers, Inc. and The Pete Store have each been named a Top 3 finalist for the second annual Successful Dealer Award. Representatives from the three dealerships will be invited to the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference in Dallas, Texas for the award presentation and dinner in their honor Wednesday, Aug. 20.

This year we had 20 outstanding nominees, and from those we had to pick five finalists.

Whittling that group down to five was a challenge, but getting the group of five down to three was even more difficult.

The Successful Dealer Award was created in 2013 to honor a dealership/dealership group for exceptional sales and service performance and excellence in community and civic engagement. Our first winner, TEC Equipment, embodied all the goals we set forth for this award.

Fast forward to this year, and we felt like all our nominees did. Certainly our five finalists did, and without a doubt the Top 3 do as well.

If you’ve not made plans to attend CVOC, I hope you will consider it. Aside from watching one of your peers take home honors as the top truck dealer in North America, there will be several educational and insightful panel discussions. Among the topics will be the trade cycle for equipment in the trucking industry and how recent regulations from Washington has impacted the industry. New hours of service and emissions standards are the main culprits, but increasing maintenance costs have also driven up equipment expense.

And as with any good event, a reception will follow the night of Aug. 20, giving you the chance to network with some of the largest trucking fleets (the guys who actually buy the things you sell) in the country.

Congratulations to all the Successful Dealer Award nominees, all five finalists and our Top 3. We look forward to seeing you all in Dallas.